Wrench foe gas-pipe



" irs smfrns maar rre.

GUSTAVUSv A. JENKS, OF VVORCESTER,A MASSACHUSETTS.

WRENCH FOR GAS-PIPE, &C.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No. 15,184, dated June 24, 1856.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GUs'rAvUs A. JENxs, ofVorcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Hand-Vrenches for Grasping and Turning Pipes,Rivets, or other Cylindrical Bodies; and I do hereby declare that thesame is fully described and represented in the following specificationand the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1, exhibits a side viewof a wrench in common use, and on which my invention has been made. Fig.2, is a side view of my improved wrench.

In the month of January, A. D. 1849, Letters Patent of the United Stateswere granted to Frederic H. Bartholomew and Solyman Merrick on a screwwrench for grasping cylindrical forms such wrench being represented inFig. l, herein before mentioned, and it is this article or tool, which Ihave improved, the nature of my invention or improvement being confinedto one or more new arrangements of its parts as will be hereinafterdescribed.

In Fig. 1, the main bar of the wrench is shown at A, and as providedwith a slide, C, which is moved on the said bar by means of a screw nutB, operating on a male screw cut on the bar as seen at a, a, a. Theslide, C, carries a jaw lever, D, which turns on a pin, b, (extendingthrough it rand the slide) and is pressed up to the main bar, A, byaspring, E, arranged as seen in said gure. The bar, A, is provided with ahooked claw, Gr, extended from it and with respect to the lever, D, asrepresented in the figure, such hooked claw being made with a jaw whosearrangement causes it to be extended beyond the lever, D.

In my improved wrench, the hook or claw, G, does not form a part of themain bar, A, butk is separate therefrom, and is hinged or jointed to theslide, C, as shown by dotted lines at b, in Fig. 2; the said claw beingpressed toward the bar, A, by a spring, E, applied to it and the slide,C. On the upper end of the main bar, A (see Fig. 2) I form a jaw orteeth as shown at f, in said figure and directly in range of the mainbar A, I arrange the other jaw, e, of the claw, Gr, and cause said claw,G, to be bent backward with respect to the plane of the rear side, it,L, of the bar A, as seen at, I, in said Fig. 2, the bend or recess, I,enabling me to bring the two jaws in range of the bar, A,and,

still obtain room or sufiicient space between them for the reception ofany cylindrical article to which the tool may be applied. The jaw, e,has little or no projection beyond the plane of the front edge 7c of thebar, A, whereas 1n the wrench shown in Fig. 1, the jaw, E, or a largeportion of the hook of the claw extends beyond the plane of the frontedge of the jaw lever, D,`such plane being supposed to be parallel tothe axis of the bar, A, shown in said Fig. 1.

My improved arrangement of the part-s or principal members of the wrenchgives to it several advantages, -in point of construction and operationover the arrangement shown in Fig. 1. In the first place, as thediameter of the article grasped within the jaws of my improved wrench isincreased we increase the leverage of the wrench whereas, the reverse isthe case with regard to the wrench shown in Fig. 1. Next, my improvedwrench may be removed from an article, without the necessity of turningback the screw nut, B. This is not the case with the wrench shown inFig. 1, as a practical operation of the same would readily prove.Consequently with my improved wrench when it is once fitted to grasp anarticle of any given diameter, it may be .readily removed from it,without the necessity of rotating the screw nut B such nut working on ascrew, a, cut on the shank or bar, A, as seen in said Fig. 2. This oftenwill be found of importance. My arrangement also has advantages as faras economy of construction is concerned.

My improvement has reference to hand or pipe wrenches whose movable jawis carried by a carriage moved on a screw shank, and adjusted by a screwnut, and it has no reference to pipe Wrenches, wherein the movable jawis fastened by a fulcrum pin to a handle carrying the stationary jaw,and is only made movable and adjustable by changing said fulcrum pinfrom one to another of series of holes made in the shank or handle ofthe stationary jaw. The adjustability of t-hese latter pipe tongs orwrenches is limited, or at any rate is very inconvenient to be effectedin comparison to what can be accomplished in this respect by my improvedwrench. In the pipe tongs such as referred to there is on the shank, noslide or carriage adjustable by a screw. The method of adjustment of themovable jaw of the pipe tongs is not analogous to that of my improvedWrench, and by no means so advantageous. Therefore I do not claim thepipe tongs made as described, viz, with a curved movable aw affixed by apin to a 5 handle having u station jaw and not provided with a screwadjustment and furthermore I do not claim the combination as patented bythe said Bartholomew and Merrick, and on which my inventionis an im- 3provement, but what I do claim is Arranging the hook or claw, G, and thespring, E, With respect to the slide, C, and

the main bar, A, and hinging or joint-ing the claw directly to theslide, C, substantially as exhibited in Fig. 2. 15

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature this second day ofApril, 1856.

Gr. A. JENKS.

Witnesses:

J. B. DEXTER, WM. N. GREEN.

